Make Music and Learn to Code with GO:KEYS and the Scratch Visual Programming Language

Roland GO:KEYS portable keyboard.

Portable and easy to use, Roland’s GO:KEYS is a great keyboard for children to explore sounds and have fun with music. Now, it’s possible to use GO:KEYS with ScratchX, a version of the popular Scratch visual programming language. With ScratchX and the GO:KEYS ScratchX Extension, kids are able to create original interactive stories, games, and animations with sounds and music accompaniment from GO:KEYS. The keyboard can also be used as an interactive controller for animation and other content created with ScratchX. Together, GO:KEYS and ScratchX offer a unique and powerful platform for inspiring children and helping them explore their creativity.

Roland Partners with Lang Lang International Music Foundation for Piano Education on a Grand Scale

On May 10, Temple University hosted the first 101 Pianists concert and masterclass event of 2016 in Philadelphia, PA. Using 50 Roland pianos, 100 piano students from the local community performed together as a “piano orchestra” with acclaimed concert pianist Lang Lang. The Lang Lang International Music Foundation, together with the Philadelphia Orchestra, organized the educational event as part of the orchestra’s PlayIN series of programs, designed to encourage people of all ages to experience classical music as listeners or performers.

Can You Play What You Hear?

As a professor who teaches music production at Berklee College of Music and Berklee Online, I have grown more and more sure that an understanding of synthesis is essential for keyboardists and producers alike. Synthesizers are a constant presence in contemporary music, and even when we hear organic or acoustic sounds, they’re often performed within software that uses synthesizer parameters to control or modify them. Most importantly, though, learning synthesis gives us a language for timbre and a way to understand sound.

Students Enhance Careers with Music Education Online

Music education online is more accessible than ever via Berklee College of Music’s online extension school.

When you think of music education, you may envision private teachers giving lessons in their homes or a rehearsal room full of students. These learning models are time tested and effective, but unfortunately are not available to all students. However, the dream of the virtual classroom is now a reality and online learning has come of age. According to SkilledUp’s E-learning blog, 46% of college students took at least one online class in the past year. It is predicted that by 2018, half of all classes will be taught online. Music education online is intriguing but also a bit of a mystery, especially for music students. Can you really get the same experience online as you can in a classroom?